During the filming of one episode at Paramount Studios, Lorne Greene was required to jump off a ship, into a water tank (known as the "B Tank"). Michael Landon recalled that when Greene did the stunt, he jumped into the water feet first and went completely under, but his hair piece came off and floated on the surface. Landon and co-star Dan Blocker watched to see what would happen next. After a minute, Greene's hand shot up out of the water, grabbed the hairpiece, and pulled it down. Greene emerged from the water tank, wearing his hairpiece slightly askew. He walked nonchalantly past the snickering crew, and went into his trailer without saying a word.
According to David Dortort, Michael Landon grew difficult during the last five seasons of the show: "Nearly every line, every scene, every set up, everything would halt for endless story conferences on the set, it got increasingly bitter toward the end."
By season 2 the show was #17 in the ratings. In 1961 at the beginning of the third season it was moved to Sunday nights at 9 p.m. The new time slot caused the series to soar, and it eventually reached number one in 1964. Bonanza was the first prime Time series to spend 10 consecutive years in the top 10.